burger Archives - Page 2 of 2

Brewhouse (Whistler)

July 24, 2014

Another Whistler post! After settling down in our hotels and hitting up the pool (such a great time, by the way), we decided to finally grab some late dinner. After spending a long time in our hotel room browsing Urbanspoon and debating, we decided to try a small Italian restaurant that had great ratings.

It took us awhile to find it and when we finally did, it was packed and the wait was too long. We ended walking around the village a bit more, stopping here and there looking at menus, how full each place was, etc.

Eventually, we stopped at Brewhouse which looked decent from the outside. At this point, we were all pretty hungry and the hostess told us that there was no wait if we sat inside the restaurant, which was a relief! But if we knew what was in store, we would not have stopped here… *cue horror music* (Joking. Kind of.)
Turns out, there was a reason why it was so quiet inside the restaurant…It was so hot and stuffy inside the restaurant. There was no a/c, I’m not even sure if there were fans because it was that stuffy.

The patio doors were open, but it did not help. They had an open concept kitchen, with a big wood oven for pizzas, which explained why it was so warm in there.

I felt bad for the cooks because they were right beside the stoves and ovens, in full cooking, long sleeve and hat attire. We asked to sit near the patio doors, but for some reason, the hostess declined us and led us to a table inside the restaurant…
The beginning of our restaurant experience was not pleasant. It was super hot, and our server did not show up until twenty minutes later. At that point, we were getting hungry and really wanted ice water to cool down, but no one helped us. We tried to wave servers down but were ignored.

Thankfully, we finally got a pitcher of water so that we didn’t have to go through the challenge of finding servers to refill our glasses as often. One cool and trivial thing about the restaurant was that they had a train set that went around the whole restaurant. The trains advertised different companies in Whistler. It was pretty cool, but I could see it getting annoying as every 10 minutes you would hear this chugging train noise :).

Now, moving on to the food, was it delicious enough to make up for the lack of service and uncomfortable heat in the restaurant?
Nothing on the menu looked too appealing to me, and took me longer than usual to decide what I wanted. I decided to order their valley chicken pizza ($18). It came with free range chicken, prosciutto, apples, and sage. I actually enjoyed the pizza a lot, the crust wasn’t too oily and was very doughy.

There was a generous amount of chicken and prosciutto on it, while the apple slices enhanced the flavour. I didn’t end up tasting any of the sage though, but everything else tasted great together.
Macaroni ordered the wild mushroom fettuccine ($19). She despises peas and asked the server to exclude it, but they ended up including it as you can see in the picture.

She ended up just eating around all the peas because we didn’t want to go through the hassle again of waving down our server. I had a bite of the fettuccine, and it was pretty creamy and cheesy. If only they took out the peas for my friend, she would have enjoyed the dish a lot more.
Cheese and Cash both ordered the Thai chicken salad ($17). It came with marinated chicken, snap peas, mushrooms, cashews, green peppers, crispy onions, spring roll chips, and a peanut/sriracha dressing. They both enjoyed their salads, but noted that they didn’t taste the srircha in the sauce.
The boyfriend ordered the beef burger ($16) with poutine for an extra $3. He was very disappointed with the taste of the burger. It lacked flavour and put simply, it was just not good. He loves his burgers whenever we go out to eat, and this was probably the first time I have heard him say that he did not like his burger.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy my visit to Brewhouse. The food was decent, but the service and atmosphere needed improvement. The food was a bit overpriced, but that’s to be expected when in a resort town.

You would think that a tourist pub like Brewhouse would have better service, but it was very sporadic and the server was not that friendly either.

Also adding to the fact that it was super warm in the restaurant without a/c or a strong fan, it was just not a comfortable experience. I hope that this review did not sound too bitter, but I can not have perfect dining experiences every single time, and this just happened to be one of them :(.

-Carmen

Milestones (Yaletown)

July 6, 2014

A birthday celebration was in order two weeks ago, and Milestones was the location of our dinner. We have been to this Yaletown location before, it is tradition for Smores to hold his birthday dinner here every year before going dancing 🙂

However, we had slight management issues which I will explain down below. This location offers a semi-private room that seats 30 guests. It is in the back of the restaurant, right before the kitchen and washrooms and is closed off on all three walls, except for one wall which is completely glass where you enter from the sides. Even though it is covered off, you do not feel completely isolated but it’s nice when there is a large party, and you guys want some privacy. There were many plates of food, beer, and wine that were ordered, but I decided to only focus on the food that I actually tried that night!
For starters, my two friends got the baked goat cheese and slow roasted garlic flat bread. It came with cranberry relish and fig jam as well.

All of the flavours of this dish complemented each other tremendously well. The bread was extremely soft and warm as well. Definitely a great starter dish!
For myself, I ordered the California burger which came with avocado, salsa, and bacon. I fell in love with this burger the last time I got it, and this time was no different either. I loved the inclusion of the avocado, and felt that all the flavours worked really well together much like the flat bread dish. The fries were pretty standard and came with freshly ground pepper as well.
The boyfriend ordered the stacked burger. Prime rib, Montreal smoked meat, bacon strips, cheddar cheese, plus more goodies. This is the epitome of an indulgent and guilty meal, but it was delicious.

The Montreal smoked meat was very tender and juicy, along with the mushrooms. Burgers like these are to die for, but important to have them in extreme moderation because they are definitely not calorie or fat friendly!
For drinks, I ordered the Sombersby cider which I got the day before at Elephant and Castle. I just took this picture from that previous post as I forgot to take a picture of it at Milestones.

My friends decided to share a pitcher of sangria. It was made with Sombersby white wine (same company as my cider), and was absolutely delicious as well! There were many fruits in it, making it super refreshing.

Now for the management issue: We had buy one get one half price entree coupons, which I think the management was upset at, so they told us that we needed a minimum charge for the semi-private room. We suspect that they had just added that policy that night due to the coupons. My friend has had his birthday here for the past six years and they have never mentioned that “policy” before.

We thought it was a bit rude and unprofessional for the restaurant manager to suddenly barge in during our dinner, and ask to talk to the birthday boy. Other measures could have been taken that were less invasive and awkward. There was no fine print on the coupons nor restrictions, so we weren’t breaking rules nor was it our fault; they should have specified the limit of one per table or something like that if they were going to be upset about it. We also ordered alcohol and appetizers, so it wasn’t like we were there just to solely use the coupons. Apart from the management, our servers were very friendly and attentive.

-Carmen

Score on Davie Sports Bar, Denman

May 3, 2014

I was invited by my friend to go to Score on Davie, because our mutual friend saw an article on it and really wanted to try their
“checkmate” Caesar which is a Caesar topped with a whole chicken, burger, hot dog, brownie, and more! Although I love spice and tomato juice, I’ve never ordered Caesars because I prefer beer much more. After trying out Score on Davie, I think I will be ordering Caesars much more. The place was packed by 8pm on a lovely Vancouver evening, and they were at overcapacity.
One thing I really liked about Score was their music. They had such good hip hop beats going all night long! This was their menu. We decided on sharing a couple of food items, drinks, and of course, the checkmate.
These are some of their other specialty Caesars as well. We thought that these were pretty impressive, but we did not know what the checkmate had in store for us… I should also mention that the checkmate is not on the menu, probably because it would annoy the hell out of the workers to make it if everyone knew about it. We had to ask our server for it!
Some of my friends decided to share a pitcher of sangria ($25). You are given the option to chose between red or white wine, and it also comes with a big metal spoon to help with getting the frozen fruits easier. They really enjoyed the sangria.
I ordered the Mill St. Vanilla Porter ($4)! It was delicious. It was a dark and thick beer, with hints of chocolate but with the smoothness of vanilla. So good!
We decided on getting some nachos to share ($16 approx). These were pretty decent, and came with salsa, sour creme, and beans for dipping. I would have liked it if there was more cheese, I found a lot of the chips didn’t have any melted cheese on them. To compare it with my visit at St. Augustine’s pub, St Aug’s had more nachos but Score has more dipping sides and ingredients in their nachos.
We also decided on sharing some honey garlic chicken wings ($12 approx). The chicken was hot and juicy, with the perfect amount of honey garlic.
And finally, our checkmate Caesar came and as you can see, it is truly a mouth and eyeful! Ready to hear what it came with? An order of onion rings, buffalo chicken wings, a whole juicy burger, a mini slider burger, a hot dog with pulled pork, a brownie for dessert, and OH YEAH, A WHOLE CHICKEN UNDERNEATH. The drink came to $60, WHICH, before you complain and leave this page, was a good deal because you got full sized portions of all the food. If you ordered all that food individually, plus a large Caesar, you would be paying the same amount anyways. We also split the bill 6 ways so it only came to $10 each.

You’re probably wondering if it was worth it. The answer is YES!!! Even though all the food was piled on top of the mighty Caesar, it was all quality food. The buns for the burger and hot dog were toasted, making it super soft on the inside. The pulled pork was so tender and juicy like the one I had at Burgers Etc BBQ House. The onion rings were perfectly crispy and tasted really fresh, as well as the crispy buffalo chicken wings. The brownie was super soft, decadent, and rich and even came with whipped cream, which melted pretty fast since the brownie was warm. The whole chicken was very meaty, and seasoned really well too! Of course, the Caesar was made well too!

In conclusion, their atmosphere and service is really welcoming and attentive. Their checkmate Caesar is one of those drinks that you just have to try, put it on your summer bucket list if you have one. Their food tastes a lot better than the average pub, the quality, tenderness, and juiciness of all their meat dishes really show. I predict that this place will get a lot busier once people hear about the checkmate, so I’m glad I already got the chance to try it!

-Carmen

A&W – Fast food coupons!

March 19, 2014

I’ve had a pretty school-intensive week, so this post is just for fun, short and sweet. Seeing that we didn’t have anything to cook and didn’t want to spend a lot of money, we saw forgotten coupons hidden under a few clothes and decided to go there.

I was so excited for the 30 minutes we were at home waiting for my laundry to finish so that we could go! I love this location because they give you these awesome frozen mugs for your root beer and cool metal fry baskets.

a&w root beer! SO GOOD, especially in these frozen glass mugs. The foam on the top actually turned to ice because of the mug.
Our two teen burgers, root beers, and fries.
YUMMMM. A&W claims to have 100% natural beef, free of preservatives, hormones, and ll of that unpleasant stuff. The onions and pickles in here were also so fresh and crunchy. Definitely an amazing burger for a fast food joint! I didn’t feel stuffed or gross afterwards like I usually do after having fast food, so I guess their ingredients are pretty good for fast food.

Also, I thought this wall was really cute 🙂

-Carmen

A Canadian’s take on Moose’s Down Under! (Australian pub)

February 16, 2014

Hi everyone!

Last month, I was invited to Australia Day by one of my good friends, Hayley, who is living in Vancouver on a working holiday visa. I have never celebrated Australia Day, so I was quite excited and curious to check it out!

I have heard my other friends say great things about Moose’s Down Under, and it was time to see for myself how it was like! Of course, when an Australian tells you this place is legit, you know you gotta check it out.
The boyfriend and I could hear the music from Moose’s a block away, so we knew it was going to be busy and packed! When we got in, we could tell it was crazily packed. There was a lot of great Australian music blasting, and literally a sea of Australians (Well, not literally, but you know 😛 ).

For Australia Day, it is tradition to play the hottest 100 songs on the radio station, Triple J. The countdown ends when the number one song is played.

It was my first time listening to Australin pop/rap/rock, but I was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed all the songs they played! Aside from the music, the screens were also playing Australian television- most of it was cricket, which is as popular as hockey in Canada!

Also, at one point, the owner of the restaurant stopped the music and everyone stood up to sing the Australian anthem. It was so great seeing such patriotic people being united in one place, yet at the same time, loving Vancouver. There was lots of (drunk) cheering and hugging to be found as well. I admired and respected the staff working that day, but service was pretty decent seeing how busy they were.

Also, I learned that the term sheila is slang for a female! Many other Australian slang words were learned that night!
Now comes the food! I was quite excited to try the food after my coworker told me about the kangaroo burger. Naturally, as a foodie, I was intrigued- I’ve never been to a place not recognizing more than half of the menu. I saw many different items on the menu that I’ve never heard of before, and it took me awhile to decide what I wanted to eat.

For drinks, the boyfriend and I decided on trying Australian beer. We ordered Coopers which was a type of pale ale and Toohey’s extra dry based on the recommendation from Hayley. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t like Toohey’s since it’s extra dry, but it was really good.

I was very intrigued by this “chicken parmie” on the menu. Basically, it is a grilled breaded chicken that is slathered in tomato paste sauce, with melted cheese on top. I really enjoyed this! It was breaded really nicely and the chicken portion was very generous.

The tomato paste tasted really fresh, and wasn’t overly sweet to the point where it tasted fake. It came with a side of salad and on a bed of fries which were both decent, nothing too special. I will definitely be ordering another “parmie” soon! They also had special “super parmies” menu which included outback jack (smokey BBQ, carmelized onion, bacon, cheddar) and parmie gonzalez (salsa, guacamole, jalapeno, corn chips, nacho cheese).

The burger in the back is the roo burger. Yup, you guessed it.. kangaroo meat patty! I had mixed feelings about this dish, and was hesitant to try it. I’ve heard that kangaroo meat isn’t as good, and I kept having an image of a cute little kangaroo hopping around….

Anyways, I found that the patty is definitely not as juicy as a beef patty. It is a lot more drier and also a lot more leaner. I prefer my patties juicier so I wouldn’t order the roo burger again but it was definitely an interesting experience.
Behold, the roo poutine. Basically like a regular Canadian poutine, but with kangaroo meat. Again, I found the kangaroo meat a tad too dry for my liking, but I would definitely suggest giving this a try. They were pretty generous with the portion of kangaroo which is always a plus!

In conclusion, I really enjoyed Moose’s Down Under and had a great time celebrating Australia Day.

On a side note, Hayley has her own blog which you can find here – Hayley on Holiday. ! Hayley is never afraid to take chances and explore the world on her own, and attempting to visit 25 countries by 25- she is only one away from that! Somehow, she balances working two jobs in Vancouver while exploring the city and working on her website! Read all about her travel adventures and her experiences living in Vancouver so far! I promise you, her adventures are awesome and will make you want to travel the world alone, too.